“Memory is fiction. We select the brightest and the darkest, ignoring what we are ashamed of.”

— Isabel Allende, Portrait in Sepia, 2000, p. 433

About Isabel Allende

Born 1942

Chilean-American novelist, author of "The House of the Spirits".

“Happiness is not exuberant or noisy, like pleasure or joy; it's silent, tranquil, and gentle.”

“Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me.”

“Silence before being born, silence after death: life is nothing but noise between two unfathomable silences.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”